Beauty in Architecture: Perspectives from Theory and Practice

Beauty in Architecture brings together the views of architects, artists, critics, historians, and philosophers to explore how beauty can again become an integral part of discussions about architecture.

Despite its recent resurgence in the public debate about the built environment, the notion of beauty remains problematic and contested in critical discourse about architecture. When the topic is addressed, it is either treated with suspicion, historicized or contextualised, or substituted with other -often equally problematic- terms, such as order, legibility, atmosphere, or character. This collection brings together voices from theory, scholarship, and practice to show that a conversation about beauty in architecture is necessary, not only because the general public speaks easily and frequently about beauty in architecture, but also because much can be gained from taking it seriously.

Bringing together a diverse range of perspectives, the essays reflect on the themes, categories, and concepts that should be part of such a conversation and show how talking about beauty engages important reflections on its ontology and what it involves: values, communities, collectives and shared histories, environment, identity, and political or legal mechanisms and institutions. A must read for designers and theorists alike, this volume allows readers to discover new strategies and concepts to foster the discussion of beauty in architecture.

Nele De Raedt is an Associate Professor at UCLouvain’s Faculty of Architecture, Architectural Engineering, and Urbanism, specializing in the history, theory, and criticism of architecture. Her research delves into architectural theory and thought from the late medieval and early modern periods, with a keen focus on the ethical and political dimensions of architectural patronage and design. She also explores how architecture is experienced and debated within broader public discourse.

Maarten Delbeke is Professor in the History and Theory of Architecture at the Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur (gta) at ETH Zürich. He works on the art and architecture of the early modern period in Europe, and its 19th- and 20th-century reception, with a particular interest in the intersection between religion and aesthetics, architecture’s relationship to printed and digital media, and origin myths. He is an architecture critic and the founding editor-in-chief of Architectural Histories.